Some three-dimensional printers include a build platform or carrier and a build surface defined by a window. Liquid resin is fed to a build region between the carrier and the build surface and irradiated through the window to form a solid polymer from the liquid resin. The carrier is advanced away from the build surface to form a three-dimensional object from the solid polymer.
It is important that the carrier and the window are properly aligned (e.g., the lower surface of the carrier should be parallel to the upper surface of the window). One solution is to use high precision fasteners to connect the carrier to mating features on the printer. However, this solution may not be acceptable for long-term use. For example, the carrier and/or the printer could be dropped or jolted such that the carrier loses alignment.
It would be desirable for the printer to automatically align the carrier (or for the end user to be able to easily align the carrier), for example on a per-print basis.